'Supernatural': 'Buffy' alum Charisma Carpenter on reunion with James Marsters

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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TV Show

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WB

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Tonight’s episode of Supernatural will feature a fandom clash of epic proportions as Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel alums Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters hit the small screen as a husband and wife witch team in an episode titled “Shut Up, Dr. Phil.” For Carpenter, who hadn’t shared a scene with Marsters since their days on the WB, it was an on-set reunion worth waiting for.

“We go way back,” she says. “It was fun to see an old friend on set and catch up on each other’s lives and talk about our kids, music, and books and talk about what it was like when we were working on this show and that show. It was a lot of intimate conversations about the old days. It was great.”

For fans who have been eagerly anticipating this episode ever since the announcement about the guest casting, Carpenter says it will be worth the wait. “She has some issues,” says the actress of her character, a scorned wife named Maggie, who unleashes her wrath on the town. “She’s a girl with issues and a lot of power, which is not a good combination,” she adds with a laugh. But as dark as the storyline gets at times, Carpenter assures, “There were a lot of funny moments in ‘Shut Up, Dr. Phil’ that were just a crack up. [Jensen Ackles] is quite good at the funny. It’s a special brand of talent to pull that off and [the cast and crew] do it so well.”

After years of being away from the, er, supernatural world, how was returning to a set similar to her old Buffy and Angel stomping ground? “Very easy,” says Carpenter. “It was like riding a bicycle. No trouble at all.” The only thing that didn’t come as easily? Getting back into the groove of learning foreign languages for spells.

“I was freaking out,” she says of the scene that required her to learn and recite Romanian dialogue after a tight schedule brought her practice time to nearly nothing. “I was literally on the brink of having a meltdown … I always have to put my best foot forward but there was just no time.” Luckily, she pulled it off, but it left her in admiration of what her co-stars have done for seven seasons. “Jensen had a two page Latin scene he had to recite while yelling at someone — it’s not easy this stuff. But they pull it off. It’s old hat after seven years, but I haven’t had to do that in ages. And Romanian! You can’t even fake an accent. I can fake Spanish and French. It’s just terrible. I’m sorry Romania, if you’re watching.”